NJ self-service gas: Bipartisan legislators introduce bill to give drivers option to pump their own gas

Fox 29 ^ | 03/02/2022 | Shaynah Ferreira

[Kid Shelleen]

The old debate about whether drivers in New Jersey should be able to pump their own gas has returned.

On Monday, a group of bipartisan legislators introduced a new bill that would allow drivers in the state to have the option for self-service stations.

[MarDav]

Hey! I was a Goober...er...highly trained (for 5 minutes) gas pump jockey for the Merit Gas Station on Rte 46 Eastbound in Fort Lee back in the 70’s.

It’s really not as easy as it looks : > }

[outofsalt]

"As of this morning Crude Oil is at $111 a barrel. "

The pump jockey will have to be replaced with a loan department to finance your fuel.

[avkillick]

... except on tribal land

[Bob434]

Next they Wil. Wanna pass a law where folks have to feed themselves too!

[Incorrigible]

[XRdsRev]

I personally don’t see the burning desire for some to pump their own gas when it is pouring rain or bitter cold. I work in a pump your own gas state and live in NJ and don’t miss pumping my own gas when I am home. Gas is cheaper here than in the pump your own state also, so outside of NJ you often do all the work and don’t save any money.

[T.B. Yoits]

It's about high vehicle counts in stations that are too few and too small because they were built decades ago. The station owners would be summoned if the lines backed up into the streets.

A buddy of mine pumped gas as a teenager in New Jersey. The gas station was so busy on Saturdays that each one of the eight pumps had its own attendant and they still couldn't keep up.

[Incorrigible]

[Leaning Right]

> ...provides employment to people who can’t otherwise get any <

You might catch a bit of flak for that, but it is a fair point. It’s for that reason I refuse to use self-service checkouts. The big difference, of course, is that there are no laws regulating checkout lines.

Anyway, the market will make the final decision. If folks are willing to pay more for an attendant, then there will be an attendant.

[LordOddsocks]

Presumably NJ will required a professional to plug electric cars into the power sockets? Oh and come back a few hours later and unplug the cable?

In the UK self-service really started in the late 70s and became universal by the mid-80s. But it didn’t follow that you could pump your own unless someone was on-site to monitor all the pumps. That’s still the rule today in the UK.

In France - and just recently Spain, totally unmanned stations now exist and operate continuously. They are generally 20cents cheaper per litre than manned stations.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Back when I was a kid, full service was the norm from sea to shining sea. Getting gas in New Jersey is like going back to the 1970s.

[ReaganGeneration2]

‘Mmmember when you could transmit COVID on gas pumps.

One-person pumping solved that. Fauci should make it go national.

/s

[frogjerk]

NJ politicians believe their own citizens are too dumb to pump their own gas and need a professional like this one to do it for them. LOL

I don't want to pump my own gas. It isn't going to lower the cost of gas and will only become more of a pain going to the gas station.

[rdl6989]

I haven’t seen a full service gas station in ages.

[JimRed]

There go the entry level jobs that used to help train kids to do useful things. Many mechanics start off as gas jockeys.

[mware]

Not NJ. Price at local station 3.73/ gal. Recently, before covid they put a 23 cent tax on gas. That beside the tax that was already on gas.

[VTenigma]

Around here the stations are unmanned 24/7. Pull up, stick your card in, pump, and be gone.

[JimRed]

Recently, before covid they put a 23 cent tax on gas. That beside the tax that was already on gas.

At the time our local stations were charging less than $2 a gallon. Oh, for a return to the TrumpGas days!

[Chode]

and they don’t even wash the windows...

[VTenigma]

Everything in the state of cancer gives you California.